Southern Company Accelerates Clean Energy Transition With Expansion of Zero-Carbon Resources and Bold Net-Zero Goals
Providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy to customers is fundamental to Southern Company’s mission. Our growing portfolio of zero-carbon resources plays an integral role in helping us meet these objectives. Our greenhouse gas reduction goals are to achieve 50% reduction from 2007 levels by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050, consistent with the commitments of the Paris Agreement. Our goals are specific to Scope 1 emissions as they comprise approximately 70% of our GHG emissions profile, and we have the most direct ability to influence our emissions reduction trajectory through infrastructure transition. Reducing Scope 3 emissions, which represent approximately 30% of our GHG profile, is also an area of focus across our electric and natural gas utilities.
Congressional Briefing Promotes Dairy Digesters to Curb Methane Emissions
Last Friday, Congress heard from several speakers on the urgency of clamping down on methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas that primarily comes from agriculture. Atmospheric methane levels have jumped 30 percent since the Industrial Revolution, largely due to human activities. The main solution proposed at the Congressional briefing was anaerobic digesters, otherwise known as dairy digesters, which convert organic or animal waste into natural gas and are increasingly gaining interest from both the agricultural and energy industry.
California Congressman, Jim Costa, among others, hailed the technology as economically sound and a “win” for reducing methane. While these digesters somewhat address the problem of emissions from animal manure specifically, they don’t address the largest issue of enteric methane –– a natural byproduct of cow digestion which is responsible for over 70 percent of agricultural methane emissions.
Bp’s Archaea Energy Inaugurates New RNG Plant in the US
bp’s subsidiary Archaea Energy and UGI Energy Services, a subsidiary of UGI Corporation, celebrate the start-up of their joint venture's renewable natural gas (RNG) plant in Hegins, Pennsylvania.
The companies formed the Aurum Renewables joint venture to develop and own the RNG plant, which is adjacent to the Commonwealth Environmental Systems landfill in Schuylkill County. The plant came online in September and can process up to 9,600 standard cubic feet of landfill gas per minute (scfm) into RNG.
California Inks Sustainable Aviation Fuel Deal With Major Airlines
California signed an agreement Wednesday with the country’s leading passenger and cargo airlines to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels across the state.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Airlines for America (A4A) — an industry trade group representing almost a dozen airlines — pledged to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels statewide.
Fuel From Dairy Manure, Now Powered by the Sun: Maas Energy Works Completes Solar Power Project
In late September, Maas Energy Works successfully completed a $6.4 million project to power its Lakeside Pipeline dairy biogas upgrading facility with solar electricity, offsetting approximately 90% of the plant's power consumption. Lakeside Pipeline, located near Hanford, processes manure from more than 10 dairy farms, to generate biogas fuel. That biogas is purified, compressed, and injected into the natural gas pipeline to create millions of gallons per year of carbon-negative transportation fuel. And now, that work is being done using solar power.
Virginia RNG Project will Fuel AstraZeneca’s Maryland Biopharmaceutical Facilities
TotalEnergies has started work on the Oakmulgee Dairy Farm renewable natural gas (RNG) project in Amelia Court House, Virginia, with its joint venture partner and BlackRock-supported Vanguard Renewables.
The farm will produce more than 259,000 million British thermal units per year (MMBtu/y) of renewable gas through an anaerobic digester and divert more than 105,000 tons of food and beverage waste per year from landfill or incineration. The RNG produced at the farm will fuel AstraZeneca's Maryland biopharmaceutical production facilities.
OPAL Fuels Begins Commercial Operations of its Polk County Florida RNG Project
OPAL Fuels Inc. today announced the start of commercial operations at its renewable natural gas (RNG) facility at the Polk County municipal landfill in Jones Corner, Florida, marking the company’s eleventh operational RNG project and second facility in the state. Owned and operated by Polk County’s municipal government, the landfill is now providing biogas to OPAL’s RNG project which is producing and injecting pipeline-quality RNG.
With a nameplate design capacity of approximately 1.1 million MMBtu (8.5 million gasoline gallon equivalents) of RNG per year, the product RNG will be primarily used to replace diesel transportation fuel to lower fleet operating costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting in a significant impact on public health and the environment. This reduction is equivalent to achieving zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from over 900 heavy-duty trucks.
Vision RNG, Waste Connections & Delta Gas Launch Landmark RNG Facility in Kentucky
Vision RNG, in collaboration with Laurel Ridge Landfill, L.L.C., a subsidiary of Waste Connections, Inc., and Delta Gas, proudly announces the start of commercial operations at its new Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) facility located at the Laurel Ridge Landfill in Lily, Kentucky. The innovative new plant converts landfill gas into RNG, which is then injected into Delta Gas's pipeline network, offering a sustainable alternative to fossil-derived natural gas.
To Support California Farms, State Regulators Need To Stay the Course on This Climate Program
California’s farm families are really good at innovating to solve problems. I am proud to be a part of it.
I was born in the Central Valley and raised by immigrant parents. My work started when I was just a child helping my father, a farm manager, with odd jobs on the farm where he worked and where my family lived. Today, I am a farm manager at Bar 20 Dairy in Fresno County, where I have worked for the past 16 years.
UGI and Archaea Energy Launch Aurum Renewables in Schuylkill County
UGI Energy Services celebrated the launch of a joint venture with Archaea Energy in Schuylkill County Tuesday.
Aurum Renewables is a new renewable natural gas plant.